Dogs for the ‘Milkman’s Workbench’

Holy cow I mucked around a lot making the dogs for the portable workbench featured in the June 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I made spring-loaded bench dogs (more complex than necessary). Dogs using a bullet catch (the right-size hardware wasn’t readily available at the home center). And when I considered casting the dogs, I knew I had gone over the edge.

So I simply made some dogs that relied on a friction fit alone and they work just fine.

Like all woodworkers, I can over-complicate single-cell division.

Anyway, I made a short video that demonstrates how to make these dirt-simple dogs. The trick is… well there is no trick. Just make them so they fit snugly and you will be fine for several years.

The dogs in this video are made using 3/4” x 1/2” maple. The shaft of the dog is ripped down to 1/2” x 1/2”.

4 thoughts on “Dogs for the ‘Milkman’s Workbench’”

I tried the dog with a spring method and it hasn’t worked out so well. This looks liek a good and simple approach but I have one question. With the dog trimmed flush with the bench top and the underside of the bench and dog sitting on a flat support surface, how do extend the dog above the top of the bench?

Square dog holes aren’t typically bored. They’re sawed in before the last piece of the bench top is glued on. But the masochists among us hoi poloi could certainly make them with a chisel and mallet like mortices.